The present invention relates to dry beverage mixes, ready-to-drink beverages and foods other than beverages supplemented with iron and optionally zinc compounds that have excellent bioavailability. The iron and zinc compounds herein do not cause an off-flavor/aftertaste, are stable, and overcome the problem of discoloration often caused by the addition of these minerals to foods and beverages. The compositions may also include vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, the B vitamins, folic acid and iodine. The present invention further relates to beverages and foods fortified with iron, especially amino acid chelated iron, without imparting objectionable color.
In many countries, the average diet does not contain sufficient levels of iron, zinc, iodine, vitamin A or the B vitamins. Iron deficiency is well documented. Although iron deficiency is one of the few nutritional deficiencies in the U.S., it is common in most developing countries. Recent evidence suggests that nutritional zinc deficiency may be common among the people of many developing countries where they subsist on diets of plant origin (e.g. cereal and legume). Marginal zinc deficiency may be widespread even in the U.S. because of self-imposed dietary restrictions, use of alcohol and cereal proteins, and the increasing use of refined foods which decrease the intake of trace minerals.
Iron and zinc deficiencies can be overcome by taking supplements. Other methods of addressing these deficiencies include increasing the intake of foods naturally containing these minerals or fortifying food and beverage products. Usually, in countries where the people suffer from these deficiencies, the economy is such that providing minerals and vitamins as a supplement is expensive and presents significant distribution logistics problems. In addition, compliance, i.e., having the people take the vitamin and mineral supplements on a daily basis, is a serious problem. Accordingly, the delivery of iron and zinc along with other vitamins and minerals in a form that has high bioavailability and at the same time a non-objectionable taste and appearance, and in a form that would be consumed by a high proportion of the population at risk is desirable.
Vitamin and mineral fortified beverages and foods are known. Although substantial progress has been made in reducing iron deficiency by fortifying products such as infant formulas, breakfast cereals and chocolate drink powders, the formulations require milk which is often not available or affordable. Little progress has been made to address the problem of iron and zinc deficiencies in the general population. Moreover, little attention has been paid to formulating fruit-flavored dry beverage mixes supplemented with nutritional amounts (i.e., at least 5% of the USRDI) of zinc and iron with or without vitamins. Many fruit-flavored powdered beverages contain vitamins and/or minerals but seldom contain both zinc and iron at any significant level, see for example, Composition of Foods: Beverages, Agriculture Handbook No. 8 Series, Nutrition Monitoring Division, pgs 115-153.
There are well recognized problems associated with adding both vitamins and minerals to beverages. Zinc supplements tend to have an objectionable taste, cause distortion of taste and cause mouth irritation, see for example U.S. Pat. No. 4,684,528 (Godfrey), issued Aug. 4, 1987. Iron supplements tend to discolor foodstuff, or to be organoleptically unsuitable. Moreover, it is particularly difficult to formulate products containing minerals and, in particular, mixtures of bioavailable iron and zinc. These minerals not only affects the organoleptic and aesthetic properties of beverages, but also undesirably affects the nutritional bioavailability of the minerals themselves and the stability of vitamins and flavors.
Several problems exist with delivering a mixture of iron and zinc with or without vitamins in a beverage mix. A few of the problems are choosing iron and zinc compounds which are organoleptically acceptable, bioavailable, cost effective and safe. For example, the water soluble iron and zinc compounds, which are the most bioavailable cause unacceptable metallic aftertaste and flavor changes. In addition, the soluble iron complexes often cause unacceptable color changes. Even further, the iron complexes themselves are often colored. This makes formulating a dry powder that has a uniform color distribution in the mix more difficult. Often the reconstituted beverage does not have a suitable color identifiable with the flavoring agent. If the color of the powder, reconstituted beverage or flavor of the beverage is substantially altered, the beverage will not be consumed. Color and taste are key to consumer acceptance.
Many iron sources which have been successful commercially, have been found to be unsatisfactory for use herein. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,786,578 (Nakel et al), issued November 1988, relates to the use of iron-sugar complexes suitable for supplementing fruit beverages. While this supplement may produce an acceptable taste in certain fruit flavored beverages, the supplement causes discoloration and consumer detectable differences in some colored beverages. Iron sources typically used to fortify chocolate milk were also found undesirable due to color problems and/or flavor problems.
It has further been found that iron is more bioavailable if administered in the form of chelates wherein the chelating ligands are amino acids or protein hydrolysates. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,969,540 (Jensen), issued Jul. 13, 1976 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,020,158 (Ashmead), issued Apr. 26, 1977. These chelated iron compounds are known in the art by various names such as iron proteinates, iron amino acid chelates and peptide or polypeptide chelates. These will be referred to herein simply as xe2x80x9camino acid chelated irons.xe2x80x9d A particularly desirable amino acid chelated iron is FERROCHEL made by Albion Laboratories. FERROCHEL is a free flowing, fine granular powder that provides a high bioavailable source of ferrous iron that is typically complexed or chelated with the amino acid glycine.
Unfortunately, it has also been found that FERROCHEL, when added to water or other aqueous solutions, imparts relatively quickly a deep rusty yellow color. Such a color can change the color appearance the food or beverage to which FERROCHEL has been added. In the case of many foods and beverages, this color change would be unacceptable. It has been found that FERROCHEL causes unacceptable off-color development in various foods and beverages by interacting with dietary components such as the polyphenols and flavonoids. Furthermore, by accelerating the oxidative rancidity of fats and oils, FERROCHEL (like ferrous sulfate) has been found to cause off-flavor in foods and beverages.
It has now been found that compositions containing particular iron and zinc sources, coloring agents, a flavor component, and optionally a sweetener are very pleasant to taste and leave no undesirable aftertaste. Further, the composition has a uniform color as a powder and an acceptable color as a reconstituted beverage. The mix is provided in a manner which avoids agglomeration or caking. This free-flowing convenient form allows the consumer to simply add the desired level of the mix needed for reconstitution into the beverage form. It has been additionally found that beverages and foods can be fortified with iron, especially amino acid chelated iron, without imparting objectionable color and taste.
Accordingly, an object of this invention is to provide a beverage mix supplemented with nutritional amounts of zinc and iron which is palatable and does not have a disagreeable aftertaste while preserving the bioavailability of the metal ions.
Another object of the present invention is to provide dry beverage mixes which immediately upon reconstitution have an acceptable color.
It is a further object of the present invention to fortify beverages and foods with iron, especially amino acid chelated iron, without imparting objectionable color.
These and other objects will be obvious from the description herein.
The present invention relates to a dry free-flowing beverage composition which when reconstituted has a desirable color and is free of undesirable aftertaste comprising:
(1) from about 5% to about 100% of the USRDI of iron, wherein said iron is encapsulated ferrous sulfate or chelated iron;
(2) optionally from about 5% to about 100% of the USRDI of zinc;
(3) from about 0.001% to about 0.5% of a coloring agent;
(4) from about 0.001% to about 10% of a flavoring agent wherein said flavoring agent is selected from fruit or botanical flavors, or mixtures thereof; and
(5) from about 1% to about 50% citric acid, sodium citrate, tartaric acid or malic acid or mixtures thereof; or other edible acid sufficient to lower the pH to between 3 and 4.5 in the finished beverage.
The dry beverage mixes of the present invention may also contain a sweetener. In addition, the dry beverage mix can contain vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin B12, vitamin B2, vitamin B6, vitamin D, folic acid, iodine, thiamine, niacin, fluoride and calcium. Polyphenols and/or flavonoids such as tannic acid may also be added for astringency. A one unit portion of the finished beverage provides from 5% to 200% of the USRDI for these other vitamin and mineral materials.
The present invention further relates to beverages and foods, especially dry beverage mixes and ready-to-drink beverages which are not carbonated and aqueous foods other than beverages, that are fortified with iron, especially amino acid chelated iron, without imparting objectionable color. These beverages and foods comprise:
(1) from about 5% to about 100% of the USRDI of iron;
(2) optionally from about 5% to about 100% of the USRDI of zinc;
(3) from about 0.001% to about 0.5% of a coloring agent;
(4) optionally from about 0.001% to about 10% of a flavoring agent wherein said flavoring agent is selected from fruit or botanical flavors, or mixtures thereof; and
(5) at least one agent selected from ferric ion reducing agents and agents capable of preferentially complexing ferric ion in the presence of polyphenols, phenolic acids or flavonoids in an amount sufficient such that the beverage or food, in the absence of the coloring agent, has a Hunter-L value of 11 or greater as measured according to the Tannic Acid Test;
(6) wherein the beverage or food has a pH of about 5 or less, as is or when dissolved in an aqueous liquid.
It is believed that off-color development caused in iron fortified beverages and foods occurs when ferrous ion is converted to ferric ion that then complexes with other dietary components in the beverage or food such as polyphenols and flavonoids. However, it has been surprisingly found that ferric ion will not cause such off-color if a ferric ion reducing agent, such as ascorbic acid, and/or an agent such as citric acid that is capable of preferentially complexing ferric ion in the presence of polyphenols or flavonoids that are typically present in these beverages or foods, is included appropriate amounts. The ability of these complexing and/or reducing agents to prevent off-color development has also been found to be pH dependent. While the optimum pH can vary depending on the particular complexing or reducing agent, a pH about 5 or less has been found to be suitable for the range of complexing and reducing agents that can be used in the present invention.